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IRDC 2015

I am hosting the (European) International Roguelike Development Conference 2015! If you’re interested, please fill in this Google Form, and read on for details.

The Event

An “unconference” for everyone and anyone involved with or interested in roguelikes – from leading developers and academics to fans and enthusiasts – to discuss the genre, meet others involved with it, listen to and give talks, see first-hand demos of in-development titles, and generally socialize and eat some nice food. It is taking place at the National Videogame Arcade (NVA) in the United Kingdom!

First Day

The first day will be the “core” day of the conference as it has been the past seven years, where everyone from big name in the field to enthusiast is invited to come, present talks, listen to talks, show off demos, and the like.

– T M Stoddard, “Creating a Procedural Level Editor”

– Michał Brzozowski, “KeeperRL Development”

– Ph, “Algorithms for Dungeon Generation”

– Flend, “Thoughts on Short Games”

– DarkGod, “Talk TBC”

– Ido Yehieli, “Talk TBC”

The second day will be more public, and is currently planned to include:

– A Two-Day Roguelike Game Jam! This will take place aside from the main conference on both days, and will give attendees an opportunity to try designing basic roguelikes and PCG systems

– Games Press! I’m working in collaboration with the NVA to produce an appropriate press release – more info as and when.

– An Open Play Showcase! We plan to set up at least a dozen computers to run classic roguelikes: ADOM, TOME, NetHack, DCSS, Angband, DoomRL, Brogue, Dwarf Fortress, CDDA, Sil, Infra Arcana, UnReal World, and possibly more, along with having folks standing by to explain how to actually play them! The objective is to introduce new players to classic ASCII RLs.

– Video Exhibition! Various displays of classic RL completions, speedruns, and the like, to highlight what a full playthrough might look like and range of areas players can explore.

– Prints and Posters and Shirts! We’re working on an exhibition of particularly interesting roguelike screenshots, and also the potential for shirts and posters. More info soon!

– New Games! Hopefully we’ll be able to offer the opportunity to play in-development versions of upcoming roguelikes; that includes my own work Ultima Ratio Regum, hopefully the Curious Expedition, and potentially several others.

– Other Stuff? Let me know if you have any ideas/thoughts!

The Venue

The NVA is located in Nottingham, and this UoN page gives a good description of how to access the city, which is well-connected by flight, rail, and coach. It is a large multi-floor building with a range of ongoing and temporary exhibitions, and we will be positioned primarily in the spacious “Lounge” area, with all the usual tables/chairs/projector/etc facilities. The NVA also has a bar!

The Dates

The conference will take place on the 27-28th June 2015.

In Summary

Please go to the Google Form and fill in your details, your interest, and whether you’re interested in giving a talk, a demo, helping out on the second day, and whatever else.

If you have any questions, please email me at mark at this domain, or leave a comment somewhere else in the blog, or on the Reddit thread or the Roguetemple Thread.

Posters/prints/shirts! That hadn’t even occurred to me! I’m always on the lookout for roguelike paraphernalia but there isn’t much of it around, so I’ll be interested to see what (if anything) I can pick up at IRDC UK.

Ha, yeah, there isn’t a lot of RL stuff out there (likewise for danmaku games, my other genre of choice) – we’ve got a few ideas, and I’m hoping to work with some other big names in the RL world on this. I’ll be updating this page as and when…